"South by west!" returned the wheelman.
"This course will bring us into the midst of the Yankee fleet in about twenty minutes," said Captain Column.
"I'm not at all afraid of the Yankee fleet," replied Somers.
"I'm not afraid of anything else," laughed the pilot.
"Where are the torpedoes?"
"Between us and Fort Morgan, which is only about a third of a mile distant, on our beam."
"And the obstructions?"
"We have passed them; they are of no account. Captain, I think all your troubles are yet to come," said the pilot, as he glanced ahead.
"Why so?"
"If we should happen to plump into one of those monitors, a fifteen inch shot would finish this craft in less time than it would take to read a man's epitaph."